RS Vareo Harken Sprints 2026 at Rutland Sailing Club
by Nick Crickmore 30 Apr 08:10 BST
25-26 April 2026
RS Vareo winners in the Harken Sprints 2026 at Rutland © Laurie Callaghan
The Rooster National Tour opened this weekend with, in view of the forecast, the optimistically named Sprints. As ever, a bit early for most of the RS Vareo fleet to come out of hibernation but encouragingly, half those who attended were new faces to the group.
As feared the wind did not appear in sufficient speed or coverage to get any racing done on Saturday but a lovely sunny day for some group discussion around boat set up and a little bimbling all round. Safety cover remained until 5pm so there was also a chance for some on the water practice in the light and shifty conditions. Quiz mistress Laurie organised the evening after dinner entertainment and team Vareo managed a creditable third.
On Sunday there was enough wind to start on schedule on a shifty and patchy racecourse. Race 1 saw Nick Crickmore take a port flyer and build a substantial lead at mark 1 only to trawl the kite in a big shift at the end of the first long spreader leg letting the chasing pack catch up at mark 2. After a couple of lead changes Chris Abbot took the win. Race 2 was a repeat port entry start for Nick, from which he managed to keep hold of the advantage to get a race win.
The wind decreased as predicted through the day and race 3 was perhaps the most tactical with many lead changes and Stuart Bailey the eventual victor. Going into race 4, Nick tried another port start, but this time had to duck the fleet and went looking for a favourable shift on the right that never came, leaving him dead last at mark 1. Stuart led the fleet with Chris and Paul North in the mix. The wind steadily dropped throughout and towards the end became very patchy and quite frustrating.
Although Stuart finished with 2 wins from 4 races, there were no discards, so consistency paid for Chris to take the overall top spot. There were no complaints when the race team decided to call it a day!
Thank you to the PRO, John Forthergill, and his team at Rutland Sailing Club for getting in as many races as possible in tricky conditions. Thanks also to the sponsors Rooster and Harken for their generous support.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Chris Abbott | 649 | The Nottingham SC | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | Stuart Bailey | 533 | Wilsonian SC & Medway YC | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Nick Crickmore | 162 | WOBYC | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 4 | Paul North | 443 | Milton Keynes SC | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| 5 | Raif Smith | 415 | Covenham SC | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
| 6 | Simon Thompson | 155 | Covenham SC | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 24 |